{"id":391785,"date":"2026-11-03T06:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T06:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/391785\/"},"modified":"2026-11-03T06:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T06:26:14","slug":"royal-emeralds-from-the-queens-of-denmark-and-portugal-head-to-auction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/391785\/","title":{"rendered":"Royal Emeralds from the Queens of Denmark and Portugal Head to Auction"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sotheby's\"Sotheby\u2019s<\/p>\n

The upcoming Royal & Noble Jewels sale at Sotheby\u2019s in Geneva is the gift that keeps on giving. We\u2019ve discussed a fantastic meander tiara<\/a>, an electric opal necklace<\/a>, and a cache of Swedish royal jewels<\/a> that are fall featured in the auction catalogue. Today, we\u2019ve got a closer look at a trio of emerald pieces that will also be offered in the sale, each of which has connections to a European queen.<\/p>\n

\"PortraitsPortraits of Am\u00e9lie of Orl\u00e9ans, Queen of Portugal and Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Queen of Denmark (Royal Collection Trust)<\/p>\n

The three lots of emerald jewels\u2014an Art Deco diamond and emerald bracelet<\/a>, an emerald and diamond brooch<\/a>, and a nineteenth-century emerald and diamond bangle<\/a>\u2014come from the collections of a pair of royal cousins. Am\u00e9lie of Orl\u00e9ans, owner of the brooch and bangle, was Queen of Portugal from 1889 until 1908, while the owner of the bracelet, Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, was Queen of Denmark from 1912 until 1947.<\/p>\n

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\"Fran\u00e7oisFran\u00e7ois G\u00e9rard\u2019s Portrait of Prince Friedrich Louis of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 1807 (Staatliches Museum Schwerin)<\/p>\n

The two queens were third cousins once removed, both descendants of Hereditary Grand Duke Friedrich Louis of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1778-1819). Friedrich Louis was married three times. Queen Alexandrine was his great-great-granddaughter through his first marriage to Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna of Russia. Queen Am\u00e9lie was his great-granddaughter through his second marriage to Princess Caroline Louise of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.<\/p>\n

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\"Am\u00e9lie,Am\u00e9lie, H\u00e9l\u00e8ne, and Philippe of Orl\u00e9ans, ca. 1890s (Piemags\/Alamy)<\/p>\n

Am\u00e9lie, who had a celebrated collection of emeralds, was also a great-granddaughter of King Louis Phillipe I of the French. She was born in 1865, when the Orl\u00e9ans family was residing in exile in England. Am\u00e9lie was the eldest of the seven children born to the Count and Countess of Paris. She was particularly close to the next two in line: her brother, Philippe (later Duke of Orl\u00e9ans)<\/a>, and her sister, H\u00e9l\u00e8ne (later Duchess of Aosta), who carried on a famous romance with the Duke of Clarence before his engagement to Mary of Teck.<\/p>\n

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\"Sotheby's\"Sotheby\u2019s<\/p>\n

Am\u00e9lie\u2019s siblings all married well, but her wedding to the Crown Prince of Portugal in 1886 was a particular triumph for the family. Carlos and Am\u00e9lie had two sons: Luis Felipe, born in 1888, and Manuel, who was born just weeks after his parents became King and Queen of Portugal in 1889. Carlos reigned until 1908, when an assassination in Lisbon killed both him and Luis Felipe<\/a>. King Manuel, who took the throne after the deaths of his father and brother, reigned for just two years before the monarchy was abolished entirely.<\/p>\n

During her decades as Portugal\u2019s queen consort, Am\u00e9lie became a popular figure within the royal family. She acquired an impressive array of jewelry to help bolster her image, including a celebrated collection of emerald and diamond pieces. Among these were the brooch and bangle which are now being sold at Sotheby\u2019s. She brought much of her jewelry with her into exile in France, where she remained until her own passing in 1951.<\/p>\n

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\"Sotheby's\"Sotheby\u2019s<\/p>\n

This formal portrait shows Am\u00e9lie in court dress. Her tiara, a diadem of diamond stars, was a legacy from her mother-in-law, Queen Maria Pia. She also wears a magnificent emerald and diamond necklace that is thought to have been dismantled after her death, with its individual elements reconfigured and sold. You\u2019ll also spot a diamond and emerald bracelet on her right wrist. It\u2019s the bangle that will be sold next week in Switzerland.<\/p>\n

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\"Sotheby's\"Sotheby\u2019s<\/p>\n

The lot notes from Sotheby\u2019s<\/a> call the jewel a \u201csuperb antique emerald and diamond bangle.\u201d They date the piece to the 1880s and describe it as having a \u201cdetachable centre featuring a cabochon emerald weighing 27.38 carats within an old mine-cut diamond border accented by rose-cut diamonds.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Sotheby's\"Sotheby\u2019s<\/p>\n

The catalogue also outlines the bracelet\u2019s path from Portugal to Geneva<\/a>. Am\u00e9lie left the bracelet to her niece, Princess Esperanza, who was married to a Brazilian-Portuguese prince. Their daughter, Princess Maria da Gloria of Orl\u00e9ans-Braganza, was the jewel\u2019s next owner. Maria da Gloria was married to her first husband, Crown Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia, when she sold the bracelet at Sotheby\u2019s in 1981. It was subsequently owned by Gabriele Murdock, a notable philanthropist and supporter of the arts who died in 1985.<\/p>\n

Next week\u2019s auction marks the third time that Sotheby\u2019s has handled the sale of the emerald and diamond bangle. This time around, it\u2019s expected to bring between 70,000-100,000 Swiss francs (or around $86,000-122,000 USD).<\/p>\n

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\"Sotheby's\"Sotheby\u2019s<\/p>\n

The second piece from Am\u00e9lie\u2019s collection, this nineteenth-century brooch<\/a> set with Colombian emeralds, followed the same chain of inheritance from Lisbon to the upcoming sale in Switzerland. The lot notes for the jewel explain that the brooch features \u201ca cabochon emerald within a double border of old mine-cut diamonds, suspending a detachable emerald drop surmounted by a pear-shaped diamond.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Sotheby's\"Sotheby\u2019s<\/p>\n

Alterations to the piece have been made over the years, including a remodel during Gabriele Murdock\u2019s tenure as its owner. Sotheby\u2019s explains<\/a> that she \u201chad the brooch altered to become an interchangeable clasp to be worn from a cultured pearl necklace.\u201d They\u2019re expecting a similar result from the brooch and the bangle. The brooch has an identical auction estimate: 70,000-100,000 Swiss francs (or around $86,000-122,000 USD).<\/p>\n

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\"Sotheby's\"Sotheby\u2019s<\/p>\n

The third emerald piece that I\u2019ll highlight today comes from the collection of Am\u00e9lie\u2019s distant cousin, Queen Alexandrine of Denmark. Born in Germany on Christmas Eve in 1879, Alexandrine was the eldest daughter of Grand Duke Friedrich Franz II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and his Romanov wife, Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia<\/a>. Because of her father\u2019s precarious health, Alexandrine spent much of her childhood in warmer climates, including a notable period of residence in Cannes, where her father sadly died in 1897.<\/p>\n

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\"KingKing Christian X and Queen Alexandrine of Denmark with their sons, Crown Prince Frederik and Prince Knud (Interfoto\/Alamy)<\/p>\n

The death of Alexandrine\u2019s father took place shortly after her engagement to Prince Christian of Denmark had been announced. He was the eldest son of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Denmark. The couple married in a quiet ceremony in France in 1898. They had two sons, Frederik and Knud, and in 1912 they became King Christian X and Queen Alexandrine.<\/p>\n

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\"Sotheby's\"Sotheby\u2019s<\/p>\n

Alexandrine was not a notable collector or enjoyer of jewelry, but she did amass a small collection of important pieces, including the Art Deco-style bracelet of emeralds and diamonds that will be sold next week in Switzerland. Sotheby\u2019s describes the gems in the bracelet<\/a> as \u201csugarloaf cabochon emeralds and old mine-cut diamonds.\u201d The lot notes clarify that the jewel was \u201ca relatively late and uncharacteristically lavish addition to her jewellery collection,\u201d adding, \u201cIt was most likely a gift from her husband on the occasion of their silver wedding anniversary in 1923 or a present for her fiftieth birthday in 1929.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"PrincessPrincess Elisabeth of Denmark arrives for a gala banquet celebrating Queen Margrethe II\u2019s Ruby Jubilee at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen on January 15, 2012 (Albert Nieboer\/DPA Picture Alliance\/Alamy)<\/p>\n

Alexandrine left the bracelet to her second son, Hereditary Prince Knud, and his wife, Princess Caroline-Mathilde. In turn, they left the jewel to their only daughter, Princess Elisabeth. She wore the bracelet throughout her long life, including this appearance in 2012 during the celebrations of the Ruby Jubilee of her cousin, Queen Margrethe II.<\/p>\n

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\"Sotheby's\"Sotheby\u2019s<\/p>\n

After her death in 2018, the bracelet was sold by Elisabeth\u2019s family in an auction at Bruun Rasmussen in Denmark in 2022. (I covered the sale here.<\/a>) The result that time around was a hammer price of 700,000 DKK ($106,000 USD), about double its auction estimate. The experts at Sotheby\u2019s are expecting a more modest result<\/a> this time: 50,000-80,000 Swiss francs, or around $61,000-98,000 USD.<\/p>\n

The Danish royals have notably reacquired another of Elisabeth\u2019s most important jewels: Queen Alexandrine\u2019s sapphire and diamond tiara<\/a>. Could they be hovering around this auction lot as well?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sotheby\u2019s The upcoming Royal & Noble Jewels sale at Sotheby\u2019s in Geneva is the gift that keeps on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":391786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-391785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=391785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}